F/A-18 Hornet breaks the sound barrier pic.

[Torch Mach1]

I got this shot of an F/A-18 Hornet passing through the sound barrier. Actually it is a still capture from a video of a scripted flyby. Credit goes to Navy Ensign John Gay for this phenomenal photograph.

The speed of sound (mach1) is around 775 miles per hour, depending on the temperature of the air. Cold air has a higher density which causes sound waves to travel slower. This is probably old school to those of you who race a lot. As air temperature affects your cars track times also.

Anyway, I thought this might be interesting information to some of us, so I figured I'd post it. Please excuse me if this subject has posted before, I checked, but didn't see it anywhere.

I also have the video of the flyby if anyone is interested.

[Mach1_17368]

KOOL photo! I'd like to see the video too; can ya send it to me? I tried responding off-line but could not hook up with you. Thanks in advance.

[Torch Mach1]

If enough people are interested in seeing the video, I'd like to have permission from Mach1.org to post it on the site so anyone who wants to can view it.

Has anyone ever seen something pass by you at over 700 miles per hour?

[DTMach1]

dude, hornets are crap. It is so difficult for them to break the sound barrier at sea level that usually there's all this build up and it never happens.

That said, F-14 Tomcats are bad ass!! Yes i am a little biased when it comes to that since i've been working on them for the past 5 years...but anyway. I really wished that I still had some Tomcats pics and movies.

Here's a funny story. On my first cruise our carrier airgroup commander loved to fly in our tomcats. He was notorious for high speed fly-blys. Anyway one morning he did an unscheduled flyby horizontally across the flight deck. Why this was so different was because usually when Jets do fly bys on carriers they follow the length of the carrier and the Air Boss (the guy in control of the deck) knows about it. So he crossed directly over the deck and broke the sound barrier. And noone expected it. It was so awesome!! My friend was in the head just one deck below and he said that when he broke the barrier the walls in the head caved in then popped back out.

Oh man that was one of the coolest flybys ever!!!

[Torch Mach1]

Ya, the F-14 Tomcat is my favorite fighter. It's fast and deadly in air to air combat. You can't beat it's long range phoenix missle. BUT the F/A-18 is a muti-role fighter. And it does an excellent job knocking out ground targets.
Wheras the Tomcat is strickly for air to air dog-fighting. the Hornet will do air and ground very well.

[DTMach1]

well I hate contradict you...but the F-14 has fullfilled the multirole nicely. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, My squadron dropped more munitions than any F-14 squadron and F-18 Squadron in the entire Navy...

here are some of my squadron's stats for Operation Iraqi Freedom:
Dropped 118: GBU-31 JDAM; 208: GBU-12; 39: GBU-16. For a grand total of 365 Guided Bomb units or 402,600 pounds (182.6 metric tons). All of that accomplished over 275 flights (1247 hours)

So tell me why we're getting replaced again? hee hee
here's a link to a pic of my squadron's ordies and a bunch of JDAM's prior to loading here (http://www.news.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=5495)

--Dale

[351c.i.d]

Uh oh...I feel a semen...I mean seaman argument coming on! :D
J/K. Sorry I saw the chance for a navy joke and took it. lol
So you really think the F-18 is a piece? What do you do on 14's? I'm a flying crew chief myself and I'm headed back to the sand tomorrow.

[DTMach1]

351; yeah i love F-14's they are very versataile. Don't get my pride in A/C fool you though. I do think that the F/A-18 does fill a good role, just not as a long range intridiction/precision bomber. However, if i was a marine/grunt on the ground I'd rather see an hornet flying over head since they are awesome at close air support and are far superior to a tomcat in that aspect.

anyway, as far what i do, i'm Aviation Electronics Technition. Which means i work on all the avionics components of my aircraft. Such as Radar, navigation, communication, weapons control systems, data link, instrument landing systems, and a bunch of other stuff i wont bore you with.

Safe to say i know the ins and outs of what my aircraft is cabable of. i also just completed a course on F/A-18 avionics systems so i know both platforms. while i am not impressed with hornets their systems are much easier to maintain!!!

So you're heading back over tomorrow huh? Well stay safe and make it back in one piece!! Where are you stopping off at before you cross the pond?

--Dale

[351c.i.d]

In my world you would be a comm/nav troop, otherwise known as a "pointy head" or "commienav"

We usually stop of in Moron, Spain before we hit the numerous stops..kuwai, balad, bagdad. We all love to stop in kuwait as we stay in the plush hotels there and the per diem is 90+ bucks a day.
It's a big circle that we travel over and over again for about 2 weeks at a time. Then we come home and do it all over again a few days later.
oh well....per diem=more mods!

[DTMach1]

god yes i love per diem!!!! I haven't been on det since december!! and then it was for two weeks in Las Vegas when we played advisary for the air force over at Nellis...Can you imagine two weeks in vegas on Det???? Jesus we were in a hotel with an Casino!!!
and happy hour in the hotel lobby was from 4pm-9pm, domestics were a buck + they had hot waitresses!!! man that was a rough detatchment!!! hee hee i re-enlisted out there during happy hour too!!! it was awesome, i was knee deep in a six pack with my hand raised...i can't even remember why i thought it was so funny!!!

I don't remember what our per diem was, just that it was all gone within 4 days, and i remember waiting for 9pm to roll around on payday so i had money to eat!!!! (we still had 3 days left there!)

[351c.i.d]

God yes...I can imagine Vegas. That really sucks you can't make it. I was looking fwd to meeting you there! Oh well.
Wow re-enlisting with a six pack in a casino...that kicks ass!
Don't feel so bad about wasting per diem, cause when I break in places like Thailand/Germany, etc. it's all gone in a blink of an eye.
Alcohol makes you do crazy things...

[DTMach1]

well actually my Skipper wouldn't let me re-enlist in the bar, so i had to step outside, do the ceremony thing, then well all went back in for some fun :beer: :beer: :beer:

Do you stop anywhere in the states before crossing over? Or do you fly west to east?

[351c.i.d]

The usual stop over on the east coast is Dover, Pope, and a few other places. You never know from day to day. Basically whoever needs to have their cargo moved is what it is. Everyone from Marines/Navy/Army/AirForce/civilian airports you name it. Where are you stationed?

[DTMach1]

stationed out of Nas Oceana

[MM]

torch mach1 i might be a moron on this but doesn't sound travel faster when particals are closer together. because i thought that sound travels faster threw solids than liquids, and liquids than gases. so wouldn't that mean that sound should travel faster in cold air than warm do to the molecules being closer together?

[DTMach1]

torch mach1 i might be a moron on this but doesn't sound travel faster when particals are closer together. because i thought that sound travels faster threw solids than liquids, and liquids than gases. so wouldn't that mean that sound should travel faster in cold air than warm do to the molecules being closer together?


I'm trying to understand what you're getting at, but let me give you some info that may help you out.

Soundwaves travel much faster in seawater than in the atmosphere. Sound travels through the atmosphere at about 1,080 feet per second, in sea water that same sound wave would travel around 4,700 - 5,300 feet per second. This is due to the seawater characteristics of salinity, pressure, and temperature. With varying salinity sound waves travel either faster or slower. With a higher salt content sound waves tend to travel faster than with less salt. Of course there are more factors involved with that, but it is important to note, that indeed sound travels faster in water than air.

Now as far as an aircraft breaking the sound barrier it's slightly different. When an aircraft is going the same speed that sound travels at, it is said to be traveling Mach 1. Which is going to give you that characteristic vapor cloud around the aircraft. The sonic boom is caused by the sound wave catching up to the aircrafts position as you see it. In other words you see an aircraft pass by very quickly, but hear nothing. Shortly there after there is the loud "boom" as the sound waves passes over your position.

Now, you are correct in your assumption of temp/pressure affecting sound travel. As temperature/pressure increases the speed of a soundwave increases, thus making it more difficult to break the sound barrier in higher temps/pressures. (ie sea level) It is much easier to break the sound barrier at higher altitudes due to lower temps and less pressure.

I hope that answered some of your questions!?!?
:thumbs:
--Dale

[MM]

holy crap bill nye the science guy yeah that answered my ? i think just tell me this in plane english, was i right about what i said?

[DTMach1]

holy crap bill nye the science guy yeah that answered my ? i think just tell me this in plane english, was i right about what i said?


yes, indeed sound waves do travel faster with lower temps ;)

[2k4mk1]

Cool Photo seen it b4 but still awesome. Seen the vid as well but it is still cool as well.

[MM]

lol thanks, i r not learn so good ;)

[BLUEOVALBOY]

I got this shot of an F/A-18 Hornet passing through the sound barrier. Actually it is a still capture from a video of a scripted flyby. Credit goes to Navy Ensign John Gay for this phenomenal photograph.

The speed of sound (mach1) is around 775 miles per hour, depending on the temperature of the air. Cold air has a higher density which causes sound waves to travel slower. This is probably old school to those of you who race a lot. As air temperature affects your cars track times also.

Anyway, I thought this might be interesting information to some of us, so I figured I'd post it. Please excuse me if this subject has posted before, I checked, but didn't see it anywhere.

I also have the video of the flyby if anyone is interested.

Hey Torch Mach1 cool photo could you please send me the video?
Thanks :beer:

[Robert Wheeler]

holy crap bill nye the science guy yeah that answered my ? i think just tell me this in plane english, was i right about what i said?
You were right, sound travels faster in dense materials, slower in less dense. The reason it is easier to go mach 1 at altitude is the air is less dense, and mach 1 is less in terms of mph at altitude than at sea level. That is why the speed of sound is defined at sea level and corrected for altitude.